Aura replaces the phone number and email address with a revocable Reach Contract, so people can only reach you the way, and for as long, you allow.
Messages, notes and files are end-to-end encrypted in the Aura Android app. The web and desktop apps work differently — here is exactly how.
Illustrative example of Reach Contract states.
Available on four surfaces
A phone number or email address is a standing invitation: anyone who has it can reach you, forever, until you change it. Aura inverts that default.
Aura brings communication and personal information together without turning your identity into a public address.
Chat, mail-style messages, groups, voice, and video, each with relationship-level permissions. Forms can be sent only to people already in Aura, with sensitive questions declared up front (new, not yet verified on real devices).
Private notes that sync across your devices, plus an encrypted on-device Vault for files and scans.
Decide who can contact you, why they can contact you, and when that permission ends.
Every contact has its own switches for messages, voice, video, and mail — changeable any time, and separate from what they allow you.
Screenshots from the Aura Android app.
Four concepts carry the whole model. No protocol knowledge required to use it — but nothing here is hidden, either.
You create an Aura identity in the app, with no phone number or email. It's a stable identity, not an open inbox address.
Each device you use gets its own signing and encryption keys. Lose one, revoke it — your identity stays intact.
A sender requests permission. You grant a scoped, purpose-limited contract — with an expiry, if you want one.
Only permitted senders reach your mailbox. In the Android and desktop apps the relay stores ciphertext it cannot read; the hosted web app differs — see why.
Whether we can read your messages depends on which Aura you use. We set it out per platform instead of averaging it into one claim.
Keys are generated and held on the phone. Messages, notes and files are sealed there before they leave it; our servers hold ciphertext and the routing metadata needed to deliver it.
A local Aura process on your own machine holds your keys and does the encryption, so our servers see ciphertext. Keys are sealed under your passphrase. Source for desktop 0.3.0 adds an operating-system credential store, but ad-hoc builds skip it and the downloadable builds are still 0.1.0.
Accounts created on the web app since 5 October 2026 keep their keys in your browser, locked with your passphrase and never sent to Aura; our servers relay ciphertext. But our website still supplies the page's code, so this does not protect you from a malicious or compromised host. Older web accounts are different: our web service holds their keys and opens their messages, so our servers can see content (they can move to browser-held keys).
Revoke a lost device without abandoning your identity.
Transactional, support, social, and marketing access remain distinct.
External delivery is explicit and clearly marked as a privacy downgrade.
No independent cryptographic review has been carried out, and we say so.
Same goal — people reaching people — with a different default for who gets to initiate contact.
| Dimension | Email / SMS / phone number | Aura |
|---|---|---|
| Address model | Open and guessable — once known, it can be used indefinitely | Opaque handle; a Reach Contract is required before delivery |
| Revoking a sender | Usually means changing your number or address | Revoke that one contract — everything else keeps working |
| Purpose separation | One inbox for support, marketing, personal, and spam | Transactional, support, social, and marketing stay distinct |
| Lost device | The number or account itself is exposed | Revoke the device; your identity and other devices are unaffected |
| What the server sees | Varies by provider — often full message content | On Android and desktop, ciphertext and delivery metadata only. On the hosted web app, new accounts (since 5 October 2026) keep keys in the browser and we relay ciphertext, though our site supplies the page's code; older accounts are readable by our web service — see Security |
Start in the browser, or install an app. Each platform has different trade-offs, and the download page spells them out before you install anything.
Use Aura in a modern browser with nothing to install. New accounts keep keys in the browser, older ones are server-held, and the site still supplies the page's code; see Security.
Open web appEnd-to-end encrypted. Installed as an APK, not through Google Play, so updates are manual.
Install notesApple Silicon and Intel. An early build that is not code-signed, so macOS needs a one-time workaround.
Install notesAppImage, DEB and RPM. An early build; packages are unsigned, so verify them by checksum.
Verify a downloadThe questions people ask first about identity, keys, and what the server can see.
No. Aura identities do not create an open inbox. Communication begins through a permission-controlled relationship — a Reach Contract — not by anyone knowing your address.
It depends on which Aura you use. On Android, keys are generated and held on the phone. On desktop, a local Aura process on your own computer holds them. On the hosted web app, accounts created since 5 October 2026 keep their keys in your browser (locked with your passphrase, never sent to Aura), but our site still supplies the page's code. Older web accounts are server-held: a service we operate holds the keys, so we can technically see your content. If that does not work for you, use Android or desktop.
Yes. Each device has independent keys and can be revoked separately. Use device linking for routine additions and reserve the recovery key for total device loss.
On Android and desktop your keys are on your own device and we hold only encrypted envelopes, so we cannot read message content. On the hosted web app we technically can for older accounts whose keys our web service holds; for newer ones the keys are in your browser, though our site supplies the page's code. We do not read, scan or log hosted-web content, but that is our conduct, not a technical limit. On every surface we can see routing metadata.
Open Aura in your browser, or install the app for your platform. Read what each platform protects before you choose.
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